The Phases

For some of you that are confused about the signs up and down Morriss regarding the current construction project, here is a refresher and an up to date recap.

Last June, it was decided since the project was funded and approved they would divide it into two Phases. This would turn out to be the best scenario we could ask for short of the whole thing being scraped. If we had allowed the town council to accept the short sighted reccomendation of the Transportation Committee, today we would be seeing bulldozers on the entire 6.6 miles.

Phase one, which started early last week is as follows:

Expanding from 4 to 6 lanes on Gerault Roads from 3040 to 2499.
A flyover from Gerault to 2499.
Intersection improvements at Morriss and 407, Morriss and 1171, Morriss and 3040, including longer turn lanes, right turn lanes where applicable.
Additional traffic signals at Gerault and Spinks Rd, Morriss and Garden Rd, Morriss and Sagebrush.
Sidewalk improvements where nessesary.
Sight improvements on several neighborhood exits.
Safety improvements at and near Forrestwood Middle school.
Landscaping.
New Fences.

Phase two, which as per the agreement, could not begin until at least 2014 or if and when the Riverwalk installs its amenities, specifically, The River. And at the completion of traffic studies that clearly state it is needed.

Last June, The Riverwalk was not in foreclosure as it is today. The developer would have had to supplied over 2 million dollars towards the project.

As it appears today, there will be no River, the parcel has been divided into 5 separate blocks and depending on the make-up of the town council next month, could be ammended to suit the new landholders.

Jody Smith would ammend the planning and zoning requirements of the property to be totally mixed use developement. That means apartments, condominiums, townhouses mixed with retail and office. The problem with mixed use developement is, the apartments get built and the retail remains a dream (drive through Valley Ranch to get an idea how that looks).

Jody Smith and a majority town council in her favor would bend over backwards to give the apartment builders what ever they want. If that would occur, in 2014 we would need 8 lanes up and down Morriss to accomodate that kind of traffic.

Melissa Northern's plan would be to surround our new Hospital with other types of high tech medical facilities that would add good jobs to Flower Mound, attract quality retail and then provide housing for workers in that to live. It would become a self contained central area of town without the need of commuters and traffic levels would remain stable. Makes lots more sense, doesn't it?

Mrs Northern was stated many times she is not for the automatic implementation of Phase two of this project because she doesn't think we will ever get to that level of traffic. She has been listening to our fight for the last year and long before she decided to run for Mayor.

With the kind of Vision she has and the support of Tom Hayden, Al Filidoro and Steve Lyda, Smartgrowth will become just that again and the real crown jewel of this town will be the beautiful, landscaped, safe, slow winding Boulevard that slices through our town and leads to the parks at the Riverwalk, Morriss Rd. Maybe we can rename it Morriss Boulevard.

The dream is still alive, but we need to wake up and get rid of Jody Smith and her give it away for nothing attitudes.